The pretransplant Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index is associated with survival of follicular lymphoma patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

We retrospectively evaluated the association of the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index ( FLIPI) and other characteristics with survival following high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation ( ASCT) in 207 consecutive follicular lymphoma ( FL) patients. The FLIPI was associated with OS both when evaluated as a categorical variable ( 0 - 1 vs. 2 vs. 3 vs. 4, p = 0.01, global test) and a continuous linear variable ( p = 0.002). The association of FLIPI with survival appeared to be more relevant for patients who received standard conditioning regimens compared to those that were treated with high-dose radioimmunotherapy ( p = 0.004). Among all patients, mortality was also associated with chemosensitive disease ( HR = 0.47, p = 0.01) or untreated relapse ( HR = 0.20, p = 0.0002) vs. chemoresistant disease, and >= 2 extranodal sites ( HR = 2.82, p = 0.03) after adjusting for FLIPI. These data suggest that the FLIPI and select non-FLIPI factors after adjustment for the FLIPI are associated with survival in FL patients undergoing ASCT.